Live updates: European leaders weigh easing coronavirus lockdowns; Birx says social distancing will continue through summer

A coronavirus tracing app released by the Australian government on Sunday has already been downloaded more than a million times, despite privacy concerns.

Registering with the app, called COVIDSafe, is optional but strongly encouraged by health officials who say it will help speed up the contact-tracing process and allow people to get diagnosed and treated early.

Using bluetooth technology, the app logs each time that a user comes within 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) of someone else. When an app user later on tests positive for coronavirus, their log of recent encounters will be accessed and everyone who has had more than 15 minutes of close contact with them will be notified.

The encrypted data recorded by the app will only be made available to health officials when someone tests positive for covid-19, and the Australian government says that it will be deleted once the pandemic is over. But privacy advocates have asked for more safeguards, including legislation that explicitly states that the data cannot be used by law enforcement.

On Sunday night, just hours after the app was unveiled, Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt tweeted that it had been downloaded by 1 million people, representing roughly four percent of the country’s population.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said that if enough people sign up for the app, the government will be able to lift some lockdown restrictions. But in order for the app to be maximally effective, at least 40 percent of the population will have to download it.

Australia’s app is modeled off similar technology being used in Singapore. The United Arab Emirates is also using Bluetooth to record interactions and to identify suspected cases, while an app released by Israel’s health ministry tracks users’ location data to see if they’ve been near anyone infected with the coronavirus.

LONDON — When did “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” first air? What was Simon Cowell’s first BBC show called? Who was only halfway there, living on a prayer, in 1986?

These were some of the questions hundreds of thousands of Brits wrestled with last week as they took part in a virtual pub quiz. (Answers: 1998; “The Greatest Dancer”; Bon Jovi.)

Britain is a nation of quiz obsessives. Not only is this the country that gave the world “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” — Britain’s most successful game-show export ever — but it’s also the place where, until recently, the majority of pubs up and down the country offered a quiz night.

JAFFA, Israel — I’ve had my fair share of medical testing — needles, X-rays, ultrasounds, MRIs, even a CT scan — but nothing prepared me for the underwhelming experience of my first coronavirus test.

It’s a virus that has the world on its knees, so when Maccabi Healthcare Services recently unveiled what it billed as a simple one-stop testing booth, I was curious.

Could this be the solution to freeing millions of Israelis from a months-long lockdown? If anyone could go to a health clinic for a fast and fairly painless test, confirm whether they have the virus, seek treatment and isolate themselves, then maybe our lives could get back on track.

I decided I had to go see this “roadside” testing booth for myself.

Some form of social distancing will probably remain in place through the summer, Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus task force coordinator, said Sunday — the same day several governors expressed optimism about the course of the virus and outlined their plans for a piecemeal reopening of their economies.

It was the latest instance of conflicting signals coming not just from state and federal leaders but also from within the Trump administration in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic that so far has claimed the lives of more than 54,000 Americans. Last week, Vice President Pence predicted that “we will largely have this coronavirus epidemic behind us” by Memorial Day weekend.

As New Zealand prepares to move out of a strict four-week lockdown, government officials say the coronavirus has effectively been eliminated.

While new cases are still being diagnosed, authorities know where each of them is coming from, the country’s director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, said at a Monday news conference. For eight days in a row, the number of new cases has been in the single digits, and only 19 deaths have been reported in a country of 5 million.

At 11:59 p.m. on Monday, New Zealand will ease some of its more severe restrictions, allowing younger children to return to school and work to resume at businesses that have a plan for safe distancing and sanitation. Restaurants will be allowed to reopen for takeout and delivery only. Services that involve close contact, like haircuts and manicures, remain off limits. Gyms, too, will remain closed, but surfing, fishing and swimming is permitted.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warned on Monday that easing some lockdown restrictions could lead new risks as more people come into contact with one another, and encouraged New Zealanders to keep their “bubbles” small. Large gatherings and travel for anything than work, exercise and essentials are still banned.

“We can only do this if we continue to pull together,” Ardern said.